A copy of the presentation made to the SOM in June 2019. The full article appears on my website (with presentation notes) https://www.workingwellsolutions.com
5. Number of Pages Required for
reports
PPQ H/S RTW Psycho/Social Litigation/Retire Tribunal HSE/Prosecution
National OH
Service
* <1 3 4 5+ 5+ 7+
In House * * 1 3 3 4 6
Sole
Practitioner
* * 1 2 4 5+ 7+
Key * Tick Box response * With Recommendations
6. Include
• Current health condition
• A prognosis/resumption of activity
• Date of return to work or full duties
• Functional capability
• Rehabilitation programme and clear timescales
• Disability status
• Ill health retirement?
• Disposal
7. Underlying Condition
An unnamed condition that may be
contributing to sickness absence.
These illnesses can be different, e.g.
Asthma may be an underlying factor in absences due
to respiratory infections. But respiratory infections do
not always mean there is an underlying condition.
Do Managers know why you tell them this?
8. Reports cannot…
Reveal a health condition
that employer does not
already know about.
Predict absence patterns Definitively say whether
disability legislation applies
(subject to a legal test).
Do advise if it is likely or not
that it would apply
Say whether an adjustment
is reasonable (subject to a
legal test to take account of
specific business needs, cost
and working environment)
Do give recommendations
Predict an exact number of
days absence for any given
condition or combination of
conditions.
10. Resources
Hemingway (http://www.hemingwayapp.com/)
Grammarly (Chrome extension, website or App)
Mind map – Mindomo (www.mindomo.com)
Fleish Reading Scale (In Word –
File/options/proofing/When correcting grammar… tick
grammar with spelling/show readability statistics
Videos
Creating Quick Parts in Word
Automatic text
Good Afternoon,
I gave a lot of thought to this – the perfect management report from whose perspective – you, lawyers, worker, manager, HR, safety???
I started thinking about Producing the Perfect Presentation on Producing the Perfect Management Report. At the time I was reading a philosophy book, and, for the first time I heard about Wittgenstein’s beetle analogy which resonated with me in my predicament. (BBC, 2015)
Wittgenstein made an analogy and asked that you imagine, that everyone has a box in which they keep a beetle. No one can look in anyone else’s box, only in their own. Over time, people talk about what is in their boxes and the word “beetle” comes to stand for what is in everyone’s box. But everyone’s beetle might be different. And whilst I might have stag beetle in my box – you could have Paul McCartney.
This thought stayed with me in the context of the perfect management report. So, this is my way of explaining what’s in my box and hoping to influence what is in yours.
A good place to start my presentation.
I don’t cover confidentiality, training, forms – strategic approach to any management report. Any report we write is a management report…
My philosophy that I want to share is keep it simple, short and accessible. Not just to those with disability’s but also to those who have reading problems, or may not understand complex sentence.
Question? Interactive
Imagine you are a manager in the Mr Kipling fondant fancy line, you are running around all day, firefighting, answering the phone, dealing with problems, emails, etc etc. Your phone rings and the OH professional says to you:
Just seen George with his bad back – he’s ok to come back to work but can you put him at hand packing end of the line, where the work is not so heavy for a few days, just to ease him back into things – its best to keep bad backs mobile, and by the end of the week he should be able to go back to his regular job of loading boxes with the pallet truck?
Hopefully it will be sorted by then but if there are any problems still I suggested George come talk to you about it. He might need a few more shifts but he should be ok.
Or would you prefer a report arriving via email, password protected, setting out when he was seen, by whom, what his capabilities are and a list of recommendations with a prescriptive rehabilitation programme?
Interactive part – write down three reasons why we write (rather than discuss) the outcome of a OH intervention?
Reasons for reports
As you change jobs or take up other contracts – you may experience all of these. In a job like mine, you can change your stance from day to day.
An OH report varies according to its purpose and to who is providing it, see next slide
Take the example of a Tribunal; an OH service provider could be asked to write a report detailing their involvement.
The National Provider will have to cover every possible issue as they may not know the details of the claim, they will need to produce all the documents (with a court order provided) and fin.
dings, telephone calls, conversations and research into the health problem, plus reasons why they may have decided a particular pathway and their service level agreement
The report will have a lot of discussion and a conclusion plus probably an executive summary.
The inhouse OH service will be assisted by managers, safety and HR to set their piece in context so the input is not usually so severe.
A lone practitioner will produce a report with the facts of the case and little in the way of discussion and conclusion.
Other reports may be different depending on the type of service too
The following points should always be considered in the report:
Advice on the employee’s current health status
A prognosis, where possible, for the condition and / or resumption of activity
An indication of the likely return to work date or return to full duties
Advice on the current functional ability of the employee. If work duties are affected, advice will be provided on whether any impairment is likely to be short term, long term or permanent
Details of a specific rehabilitation plan and advice on adjustments, if appropriate, with clear timescales
Advice to the organisation regarding disability in accordance with relevant UK legislation
Advise if ill health retirement is a consideration.
Disposal, means next steps, try to give a package of care to management so they can learn from the situation. Empower managers to learn from each interaction. Try not to continually review cases as it blocks appointments and the individual may become reliant on OH. Constant reviews are usually done by in house OH services
The term ‘Underlying condition’ is used when reporting back on an employee who has short term repeated absence. It means an un-named condition that may be contributing to sickness absence. These illnesses may be different. For example:
Asthma or another respiratory condition may be an underlying factor in absences due to respiratory infections. But respiratory infections do not always mean that there is an underlying condition
Anxiety may be an underlying reason for absences due to headaches or ‘debility’
An underlying condition is not necessarily serious or life threatening. Underlying conditions are relevant because issues that would be relevant under the UK Disability legislation may have to be considered in managing the attendance.
Also, if the is no underlying condition causing the absence then there is no medical way that attendance can improve – basically it has to be treated as a management issue e.g. attendance targets set and consider disciplinary procedures if fails to improve.
Reports should not:
Reveal a health condition that employer does not already know about.
Predict absence patterns
Definitively say whether or any UK Disability legislations would apply (this is subject to a legal test), although they can advise if it is likely or not that it would apply
Say whether an adjustment is reasonable (this is subject to a legal test which takes account of the specific business needs, cost and working environment) or advise the manager that they must make adjustments. However, they can suggest what potentially reasonable adjustments may assist the employee.
Predict an exact number of days absence for any given condition or combination of conditions.
Hemingway, Grammarly,
Dictation apps available on smart phones and many PC’s and IOS now
Arial at least 12 point (Sans serif)
Dyslexia society
Plain English advice
Templates – use the example of the manager who says she always gets the same information with only two sentences different.
So there is my Wittgensteins Beetle. I hope you recognised it.
I also have a number of books available on Amazon.